Futures pause for breath

U.S. stock index futures rose marginally prior to the start of Wednesday’s session as the S&P 500 was within striking distance of hitting an all-time high.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faded six points to 25,594

S&P 500 futures lost 1.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,858.25, while futures for the NASDAQ composite fell 11.75 points, or 0.2%, to 7,465.50.

The S&P 500 closed Tuesday’s session just 0.5% from a record high. If the index breaks above 2,872.87, it would notch its first all-time high since Jan. 26. The NASDAQ was also less than 1% away from a record while the Dow remained 3.7% below its all-time high through Tuesday’s close.

Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have released their calendar second-quarter. Of those companies, 76.4% have reported better-than-forecast quarterly profits. If the earnings season ends with at least 80% of companies beating estimates, it would mark the first time that has happened since the data was first tracked in 2008.

Amazon and Apple are among the companies that have reported better-than-expected earnings. CVS Health also posted better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, sending its shares up by 3.3%.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk meantime published a series of tweets Tuesday about potentially taking the automaker private at $420 a share. However in a blog post, he added that the final decision had not yet been made. Shares rose over 10% by Tuesday’s close.